Don't Stop Believin'
by slashburd
Summary: Should you ever bother looking for love? Fluffy story, no smut, rated M for bad language and that its M/M slash. If slash offends, please don't read it!


Title: Don't Stop Believin'

Rating: M - for language

Pairing: Cody Rhodes / Ted DiBiase

Warnings: If slash offends, please don't read. Bad language.

Summary: Should you ever bother going looking for love?

Disclaimer:I don't know any of this to be true, its a total work of fiction. I do not own any of the characters within the story.

Author Notes: Angsty and fluffy, random and non-smutty spontaneous brainwave fic ;) Italics indicate Cody's thoughts.

*

With his lisp becoming more and more pronounced Cody slammed his phone shut and slung it across the room, watching as it shattered into pieces before finally scattering all over the carpet. Hot tears of frustration ran down his face and he pulled at his hair until wisps of it actually started to come out in his hands. He flipped over on the bed and started to hammer away at the pillows, growling and thrashing with all his might until he had no energy left and his arms ached.

Collapsing into pillows that had long since submitted to the aggression that accompanied his temper he sobbed bitterly, drawing his knees up under himself so the pain in the base of his gut might go away.

_I'm just a joke, a fucking terrible joke that nobody could ever love. _

A gentle knock came to the door and Cody was immediately dumbstruck with the thought that someone might have heard his outburst. He shuffled silently over to the door and looked through the peephole. Outside stood Cena with a concerned look on his face. Before he could think he muttered "Fuck." under his breath but it clearly wasn't as quiet as he'd thought.

"Hey, Codester, everything ok in there man?"

Cody put his hands against the door, embarrassed but appreciating that John was keeping his voice down for once. He had heard him behind the door and probably heard his phone breaking on the bricks too but he wasn't in the mood for talking about it.

"John, I'm fine, just having a few...issues. I'm good."

"I just heard the bang man, and I had to come check. You know where I am if you wanna talk."

"Thanks John, maybe later."

With that Cody heard John head back to his room and waited for the door to clunk shut before he walked over to the bed and perched on the end, looking at himself in the full length mirror. Staring at himself he could only find fault where others would find perfection.

_Look at those lips, I look like a fucking sex doll, or a fucking woman. And my eyes, they're too close together and look fucking awful when I cry. _

Reaching down to the floor he picked up the bigger pieces of his phone that had remained intact and they were still warm from being pressed so close to his ear a few minutes earlier. With a wry smile he thought about being able to go and check out the cute guys in the phone stores tomorrow, not that they would want him either.

With a dark cloud hovering over his head he thought back over the last few months. It was beyond a dry spell and verging on a Saharan drought. Ever since he and Evan had split up he'd just not been interested or if he was he couldn't get them interested. Teddy and Randy had tried pointing out to him that the baggy clothes and caps he'd started wearing weren't exactly enhancing his physique and the day he'd turned up wearing the same clothes as the day before had yet to be lived down.

_It's alright for them, they don't have to work with their ex partners two hundred days a year._

It had been hard watching Evan running round with Kofi right under his nose every day that they worked. Cody knew it hadn't really been Kofi's fault as Evan had already got his sights set and claws in by the time anyone had realised what was happening. Before long Cody was history and the next new plaything was writhing underneath Evan every night. The entire roster was sick of the incessant groping and simulated sex in the locker room. Cody had never allowed them to get so in-your-face but Kofi was as new to gay relationships as he was to the business and just didn't know any better.

_At least I've got my dignity. Well, more dignity than Evan. Bastard. _

Cody looked ruefully at the increasing pile of high-end lifestyle magazines as he gathered them up following his brawl with the bed that had seen them strewn all over the floor. He picked up the sheet of white paper that rested on top of them, a sheet that was covered in his scrawl. It had all seemed like such a good idea when Mark suggested it. Blinking back more tears Cody read back the advert he'd written and couldn't believe that someone like him was having to resort to personal ads to meet people. Tearing it into four he stuffed it in his back pocket with intentions of dumping it in a public bin, miles away from where his colleagues and supposed friends were rooming and might find it.

He'd set up an account with the dating line and then recorded the advert he'd spent literally days writing. Listening to it back he didn't like the way it sounded so he'd hung up, re-worded it and had another go. And another go. And another go. By the time he'd spent about a hundred bucks on phone calls he was just so tired of it all and when he'd finally got the wording right he thought he sounded like a camp Elmer Fudd and so began the inevitable demise of his cellphone.

It had been the final straw in a rough couple of weeks where he'd been booked to lose just about every match, including two or three to Evan. His dad had called Vince and given him hell which had made things decidedly frosty at Creative level. Cody just wished he'd got someone to come home to at night and just be with, maybe find some solace in their warm embrace or a walk along the beach; anything to change the routine of getting beaten by what seemed like everyone and everything in his life.

_Why change the habit of a lifetime? Nobody ever thought I'd amount to anything. I just wanted to prove them wrong. _

Knowing he needed to clear his head he grabbed his hoodie and pulled it on, making sure the iPod he cherished was in it. Of late his music was all that he could rely on and when he turned it on and plugged his ears shut life always seemed that little bit better. Over the last few months his playlists had changed from jingly love songs to the angsty emo stuff that seemed to fit his mood better. One song though always remained and endured through any storm. He had memories of hearing Dustin singing it in the yard at home when he was younger and then they'd all laugh together at Cody joining in with his high pitched squeal.

Skipping straight to the song he closed the hotel room door behind him and turned it up loud. The familiar piano opening was ringing in his ears and the peace washed over for him as he headed to the hotel's main entrance and out towards the sea. He sung along in his head, just managing to resist the temptation to start singing out loud.

"Just a city boy  
Born and raised in South Detroit  
He took the midnight train  
Goin' anywhere..."

Cody realised that he wasn't from Detroit and he wasn't really a city boy but it was close enough to how he felt and he'd damn sure love to be anywhere else in the world right now. He was beginning to see why people just packed their bags and ran away, closing the door on everyone that knew them and expected things from them.

He walked along the beach front. It was pretty deserted at this time in the evening and although a few people passed him walking dogs, rollerblading or strolling along arm in arm nobody recognised him and he was grateful to be left alone. He figured that he just looked like the scrawny and sullen teenager he'd been growing up and didn't look real approachable.

Once he'd walked about a couple of miles or so he dumped himself down on an empty bench and watched the waves bringing the tide in for another day.

"Some will win  
Some will lose  
Some were born to sing the blues  
Oh, the movie never ends  
It goes on and on and on and on"

The song repeated over and over, never getting tired or boring.

_Unlike me. I'm sick of listening to myself. _

Reaching into his pocket he retrieved the advert he'd written and looked over the scraps of paper, almost glad that he'd not been able to go through with it. Mark had already offered to be his emergency phone call in case any of the guys were weirdos or turned out to be women. It made him smile that somebody cared. Cody knew that if he and Mark had met in a different life they would've made a great couple; on the same page in a lot of ways but more than just a generation apart. Besides which, Mark had Glenn and it made him jealous in the nicest way possible that they were such a solid couple. It had to feel great to be loved like that.

_There's got to be hope for me if a man who wears eyeliner for a living can get hooked up._

As he sat there absent mindedly fingering the paper the incoming sea breeze blew one of the pieces out of his hand. Cody shot up to try and get to it as it fluttered away but it was racing off faster than his legs could carry him. Putting his head down and chasing after it at a sprint he wasn't sure why he was doing so. The words of one piece wouldn't make much sense on their own but he wanted to oversee the disposal personally. He'd never wanted anyone to know or be bothered by how lonely he'd become and Mark had only gotten involved after finding him drunk, weepy and a little too handsy in a bar one night.

"Codes. Cody. CODY!"

The voice finally penetrated the music that still soared in his ears and he stopped running. He turned to see Teddy stood there, clutching a piece of white paper in his hand. He started to walk back towards his friend having gone a good ten metres past before he'd heard the yelling, yanking out the earphones as he went.

_Shit_.

"You looking for this? Although its been pretty funny watching you make like Michael Johnson I figured that this was what you were chasing with that lil panicked look on your face. Am I right?"

Cody took a moment to catch his breath, leaning down to rest his hands on his knees. He'd got no idea how far he'd run or how fast and his lungs began to burn as the oxygen bloated them. Looking up at Teddy smiling he felt a twinge of sadness. Ironically that was the kind of guy he'd hoped would answer his advert. Young, hot, confident, successful; all the things Cody wished he could say about himself and actually mean. He strolled the final few metres, pleading with his body not to give him the kind of rib-splitting stitch he usually got after a run.

"Yeah, I dropped it just down the road there and I was kinda chasing it but it seems I ran past it. Thanks Teddy."

Cody went to take it out of Teddy's hand but it was pulled away before he could clamp his fingers around it.

"Hey, didn't your daddy tell you it's rude to snatch?"

Teddy smirked and although Cody would usually laugh along he wasn't in the mood.

"Teddy, I appreciate you getting it for me but can I have it back now please?"

Cody reached again but Teddy held it above his head.

"Hey, no need to snap! And seeing as its so important, isn't there a finders fee?"

_I really don't need this, just hand it over dammit._

"Teddy, please may I have my paper back. I am forever indebted to you for stopping its escape for me and I officially owe you one. Is that ok?"

Teddy nodded, brandishing the paper just within reach. Cody breathed a sigh of relief as he grabbed the paper and shoved it into his pocket, noting every detail of Teddy's face as he his wicked grin turned into that sweet lopsided smile which always made his eyes more blue and right now his tormenting antics somehow less annoying.

"Well, Mr "Gay White Male, 24, athletic and funloving" I'm sure I can let your bad manners slide just this once...."

Cody was just about to launch into Teddy and tell him how it was none of his damned business and how rude it had been to read the paper at all but before he could speak Teddy stepped forward and cupped his face, planting his lips over the mouth that was just about to erupt with a full blown rant.

Cody struggled at first to break free but soon figured that he hadn't been kissed in a while and it felt nice. He felt arms snake around him and pull him closer, the insistent tongue making short work of his feeble defences. It made him feel so safe and wanted, something he'd not felt for a long time and he silently decided that he could certainly live with the warmth of the closeness and who the kisser was. It was the first proper kiss he'd had since the last night he'd spent with Evan and his subsequent drunken lunge at Mark that had almost made Glenn wet himself laughing when he witnessed it.

_Well I guess I got one reply to my advert...._

Pulling away from the kiss Cody opened his eyes and looked at the sweet and gentle man who was staring back.

"Why Teddy - why now? And what the hell were you doing out here anyways?"

"Well I was just waiting till you were ready. Seeing you with Evan and what he did to you, well it killed me y'know. I thought I'd missed my chance before because I was too scared to tell you how I felt. And Cena came to tell me you were throwing some kinda hissy fit and that he'd seen you bolting from the hotel. He said I should go after you. He...I was worried 'bout you Codes."

Cody felt his hands being grasped tightly as he was mentally somewhere between thanking Cena and writing out his death warrant. Teddy's enraptured expression pretty much said it all and as their eyes met Cody leaned in and buried his face into the broad chest in front of him, feeling months of loneliness ebbing away.

_I could get used to this._

_*_

A/N: I was just feeling a lil fluffy after Legacy's 'survival' on Raw and this came to mind. All reads and reviews appreciated :)


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